Halo: Negotiations
by tyratoku
Summary: Spartan Gray Team and why they weren't in on the Reach Campaign. Story is better than Summary, Read and Reveiw please. Chapter Nine is up!
1. Spartan Gray Team

Halo

Negotiations

Chapter One

The longsword fighter darted by the wreckage, barely able to get by without clipping a wing. The opposing ships had not seen them, yet. The pilot of the Longsword, Spartan 002, rocked back and forth in his seat, the adrenaline a bit much for him. Behind him, Spartan 143 watched as her superior dodged wreckage and stray plasma torpedoes.

"How we doing back there?" 002 asked. He flipped the fighter around, the Semi Powered infiltration plates on the outside began to mirror the surroundings around them.

Black space, Covenant and UNSC wreckage everywhere.

Back in the cargo area, Spartan 020 was prepping them for ground combat. Their mission had meant to be peaceful, but that could backfire. They had a two large crates full of weapons, with another for grenades and demolitions.

"We have enough firepower to take down a platoon, if that's what you mean!" He nervously laughed, hearing them pass by a Covenant cruiser. "ETA?"

002 glanced outside, watching as the Covenant surrounded the remains of a UNSC Frigate. The comm. blasted something that the Spartans could make out as the screams of the bridge crew.

"Mothers…" 002 said.

"Sir, ETA?" 020 asked.

"Two minutes, is everything ready?" 002 asked.

020 glanced up from loading a SRS99C-S2 AM Sniper rifle. "Yes sir. Advise you to gear up now." 143 stepped away from the pilot, and moved towards the back. She grabbed a MA5B ICWS Assault rifle, clipped it to her back, and then moved to grab one of the S2 Sniper Rifles. 020 grabbed an M6D Pistol, slipped it into his side holster, and then took a MA5B. He gave her to M7 Caseless Submachine Guns, and she took them forward to give to their superior.

"Were entering the atmosphere…"

Seconds later the radar flared. "What the…?" 002 said, but seconds later the remnants of a Plasma shot hit their wing, burning the entire thing. "Mothers!" 002 yelled, trying to keep the fighter balanced.

"Get ready for emergency landing!" 002 glanced to his right, and cursed. The shot wing was trailing smoke, giving any Covenant on the ground a clear look at them.

"Sonova…"

All went black.

Cory-020, was only awakened because the alarms on his Mjolnir IV armor beat in his ears, making his brain scream in pain. His first instinct was to get up, but as soon as he tried to move, he knew he couldn't. He glanced around, fire burned most of the cargo area, and he saw the foot of another Spartan. He couldn't tell if it was 002 or 143. His shielding recharged, very, very slowly.

He tried to get up, but felt something heavy against his back. He struggled for a second before being able to move it an inch. Suddenly it gave, and fell to the floor. It was a piece of the SPI plating; somehow it had come inside and kept him to the ground. He turned, looking to see why it gave.

A Marine stood above him, an old MA3 Assault Rifle clipped to his back. He motioned for someone that Cory could see to come over, and two more Marines appeared. One a man, the other a woman.

"Get him in a 'hog. Get the other, Kent says we got company coming." The woman said, rubbing the barrel of her M90 Assault Shotgun. The other Marine, the guy, held a S2 Sniper Rifle.

Cory's mouth opened, but nothing was heard. He tried again, this time able to moan. "We…weapons…" he said. The Marines just stared at him, confused. "Over…there…" this was the last of his strength.

All went black.

Stone-002 raised his M7, firing a quick burst into a trio of grunts charging him and another Marine. He reloaded the weapon, checked down the sights, and stood up. The crouched Marine beside him stood, an MA3 AR in his hands. Stone waved his hand, and the Marine followed. The two ran past the remains of a group of Jackals, and moved to the small convoy. Three LRV Warthogs sat next to the downed Longsword, two were manned, the other was not. Spartan 143 was loaded in the second, still unconscious. Stone watched as the XO stepped out, the other two Marines helped carry 020 out.

"Kent, get to driving!" the XO said, getting into the passenger seat of her 'Hog. Seconds later everyone was in their places, and the Warthogs were on the move.

Just as Stone thought they would be fine, the wail of an overhead Covenant Banshee flyer roared, passing them in a few seconds. "Take that thing out!" the XO yelled, beginning to fire her rifle.

All three M41 Light Anti Aircraft guns fired, the gunners screaming happily. Midway through this, Cory was up and running, beginning to look around. The Banshee, with over two hundred rounds hitting it, screamed one last time and slammed into the ground, exploding on contact. The six marines and two Spartans cheered, but it was all cut short as a group of Banshees dropped from the sky, with a Covenant Seraph fire trailing.

"Bitch!" Kent yelled, turning the 'hog to the left. He jumped a hill, and ended up in a tunnel, the other two Warthogs following. The tunnel was a series of turns; they seemed to be made by erosion from a river or something of the like. Two of the Banshees followed, the others veering off.

The XO turned, raising her rifle. "Evans! Take them out!" The trailing gunner turned, opening fire. The middle Warthog's gunner turned to help, but the trailing Warthog was blocking his shot.

"Damn, three! Move to the right!" The third warthog's driver turned the wheel, moving a bit to the right. The Second stayed on the same path, and was hit.

The Banshee had predicted the third to keep going, and fired the Fuel Rod Cannon on its bottom. The green blob fired, hitting the second 'Hog's rear fender. It flipped backwards, ending upside down. The gunner was dead, Spartan 020 in the Passenger seat was flung forwards, and the driver was pinned.

"Shit!" the XO yelled. She turned to the driver, telling him to floor it. Spartan 002, upon seeing 020 flung forward, jumped out of his vehicle, motioning for the Marines to keep going. Only one Banshee was left, and it began to drop, its fuel rod cannon charging. Stone watched it closely, and spread his legs apart, ready to jump. He timed it right, and was on the Banshee's frame, trying to pry the cockpit open. The Covenant Elite soldier inside wormed around, roaring.

Cory-020 was up, and flipped the downed Hog over. The Marine under it was pinned to the ground by the M41 Light gun, penetrating his chest. He moaned in agony, trying to free himself. Blood leaked down his mouth, his teeth were a glint of red. "Help…meee…" he said, grabbing at the barrel of the remains of the mounted gun.

020 knelt down, "Sorry, but I cant do anything about this…" Cory glanced over his shoulder, and saw 002 rip the Banshee pilot out, who fell twenty feet to the ground. Cory grabbed his sidearm, the only weapon he still had. He fired his entire clip at the elite, killing him easily. Cory turned back to the Marine, but the man was dead. "Damn." Cory said, pausing to grab the Dog Tags and then step over his body and to the flipped 'Hog. He looked up at 002, and waved. Stone opened a comm. Channel.

"Yea?"

Cory turned the engine, and began to inch forward. "Hop in."

"The Marines might need something like this. Judging from their weapons and their Warthogs, they look to be kinda old."

"So?"

"I doubt they have a working Longsword or Pelican."

Cory nodded, and floored the gas pedal. He lurched forward, flying over a bump on the path. He hit the comm. On the dashboard, "This is Warthog number Two, where are you guys?"

The comm. Replied quickly, the Executive Officer on Warthog One was at it. "This is Warthog One, I thought you guys were down. Over."

"Spartan 020 at the wheel, both of your Marines are dead. Spartan 002 is in a Banshee, so don't fire at any unless they are in a group. Over."

"Thanks, we're heading north; I'll wait for you if you want. Over."

"If you wouldn't mind…" Cory replied, almost forgetting standard radio procedure. "Over."

"Sure, over and out." Cory turned the wheel, dodging a large chunk of rock. Ahead, he started to see the light at the end of the tunnel. The Banshee was clear, 020 could see it winding upwards and out of sight. He took a jump, and landed hard. The back end of the 'Hog was horribly disfigured and the center of balance on the thing was wrong, he had troubles with driving it. He saw both Warthogs sitting at the end, both Turrets manned and scanning the skies. Cory approached them, and then heard them. Three Banshees were coming through the tunnel, already charging their large Fuel Rod Cannons.

"Shit!" the XO yelled, pointing behind Cory. "Evans, Dawkins, fire!" the first and third Warthogs' turrets fired and taking out the first Banshee. Cory looked at his Warthog, scanning it. They had one of the Longsword's weapons crates in the back, part of the side was melting from the former plasma heat. A M19 SPNKr Rocket Launcher sat idle in it. Cory pressed on the brakes, turning to the right. He leaned into the back and grabbed the Rocket Launcher, priming it immediately. As soon as the Banshees saw him with the Rocket Launcher, they tried to peel back-

-And collided in midair, both Banshees exploded, and Cory still hadn't fired a Rocket. The Marines cheered, until they heard the final Covenant transport coming towards them. It was a single Seraph. Cory fired both Rockets out of the tunnel, expecting where the Seraph would fly. The first missed, but the second hit directly, and the Seraph began to trail smoke.

Cory grabbed another two rockets and reloaded in less than a few seconds. He fired at the Seraph, the first hitting but the second missed. The second had missed because the Seraph exploded upon hit by the first.

Cory smiled, and put the Rocket Launcher in the passenger seat. He turned the wheel, and followed the smiling and laughing Marines.

It took almost a half hour to get to their encampment.

It was actually quite small, only three buildings were outside, and by the look of it, they could only house the Marines that were still alive. Cory looked thoughtfully at it, thinking. The large building was in the center, with a long tent leading to the doors to the second and third building. Off to the East a cliff overlooked them, and a few vehicles were parked there. The entire camp was surrounded by cliffs and gigantic rocks, many small caves were seen, but Cory couldn't tell if anyone or anything was in them.

The Warthogs were parked next to another three Warthogs and two old Scorpion Tanks. The XO stepped over to Cory, now standing next to Stone. "My name is Lindsay Macy, Major." She shook hands with both. "Sorry I couldn't introduce myself earlier."

"Its alright, we really didn't have the time I guess." Cory replied, looking over her shoulder, he now saw a small group of people leaving a small cave; they looked to be a family. "Is…who all is here?" Cory asked. "Why…and how are you here? This area was wiped out by the Covenant almost thirty years ago."

Macy looked into the visors of both Spartans.

"Thirty years ago, the Covenant attacked Juarez IX, where we were. As soon as they appeared, all of the officers on the planet, there were almost a dozen of them, knew we were history. So they packed up a few officers, got about three hundred Marines and then their families onto the _U.N.S.C. Jefferson_, and we hightailed it out on the other side of the planet. After a month or so of random jumps, barely able to dodge the Covenant, we ended up nearly out of Fuel.

"So we drifted for almost a year, until we were pulled it by the gravitational pull of this thing. So we landed about thirty clicks to the south, and moved right away. We set up camps around for a while, until we found this Basin. So we set up a big camp, with Semi-Permanent buildings, and have been here for 28 odd years. Six officers made it here, but two died of disease. Around two years A.L., After Landing, we made a headcount. We had two hundred forty seven Marines, three hundred sixteen women and children, seventeen other men, and four officers. I was promoted almost three years ago, after the former senior officer died. Many people had died from disease, until Dr. Thomas had found a herb that is native to around here.

"That herb, which we called Thomasside, can be made into a paste that, if drunken every year or so, can prevent a person from getting any major disease or sickness. The occasional flu or cold gets by, but that would be it. So, in honor of the good doctor saving our little colony, we named this 'Town' Thomason. Since then, we have almost three hundred Marines, and have a grand total of seven hundred twelve people here.

"We've always kept a few people at the _Jefferson_, monitoring space and such. About a year ago, we began to pick up that the Covenant were beginning to show up on the end of the system, and since then we began to take down some of the smaller buildings, only keeping the ones we really needed. Over the years we had made caves on the cliffs, and the conditions inside have vastly improved. They are almost like Grade B houses, really nice.

"So, when we picked up you guys late last night, we began to get some parties together, and as soon as the crew at the _Jefferson_ knew where you had crash landed, we sent in a search party. Now, since the Covenant are showing more activity, we could really use you." She smiled, and breathed deeply. She had talked now for almost five minutes, without much of a pause. She turned at the sound of her name, and moved towards the second building. By a cave towards the east side of the camp, Evans told a woman about one of the Marines that had died; she began to cry almost immediately.

Stone opened a private comm. Channel with Cory, and sighed. "It's the way of war, Twenty." He cut the comm., and moved down a path, towards the center of the camp. Spartan 143 was taken to one, six Marines taking her.

An hour later, both Cory and Stone both knew all their was to know about the camp. Their was really only two major things wrong.

One. The Marines were running low on weapons and ammo. Their weapons were over thirty years old, many were broken. Ammo was tight, with thirty years of hunting on their belts.

Two. The Covenant now knew Humans existed here, and were probably ready to launch a gigantic attack.

One thing confused them both, if the Covenant knew the Humans were there, then why not just glass them?

Cory slept on that question that night, hoping to find the answer on a clear head in the morning.


	2. Spartan 143

Halo

Negotiations

Chapter Two

Spartan 143 awoke to see a large, almost completely white room. Many monitors and displays were up, showing various health things about her. She looked down her body, noticing that she still had her lower armor on, and part of the upper. The chest and arm plates were off, her helmet along with them. She looked around the room, noticing that no one was in there.

"Hello?" she asked.

Within seconds, three people flowed into her room, moving equipment and shifting positions. They unplugged various things, and took her off the monitors. Nothing was really wrong, just that she was knocked out pretty good.

About an hour later, she was walking around the camp, wearing her under suit and the leg armor. She got a few blank stares, but besides that, nothing unusual.

She found Spartan 002 in the cafeteria, eating with a woman and two Marines. Upon seeing her, the woman saluted, and 002 turned to see his fellow Spartan.

"Ashley, glad to see you!" Stone exclaimed, standing up to hug her. The woman stood up, shaking hands with Ashley-143.

"Major Lindsay Macy, senior officer her at Thomason." Macy nodded, and sat back down at the table, finishing what looked like a salad. "Native food, pretty good." She smiled, and shoved a fork into a leaf.

Stone slipped on his helmet, opening a comm. Channel with 020. "Cory, get into the Cafeteria. Someone wants to see you."

Ten minutes later, Cory was in the Cafeteria, along with another dozen higher ranked Marines, all meeting Ashley. She forced smiles and shook hands. Listening to old war stories that the other two Spartans had already heard.

An hour later, everyone was done with Breakfast, day 002 on the planet. Many Marines were in training, throwing rocks as grenade and shooting rock bullets from old weapons. As soon as the Spartans showed up, Macy closed the current training, and brought all fifty four Marines to the beginning of the course. She decided to pit the three Spartans against all of the Marines, but the Spartans could also have Macy and two Lieutenants.

An MA2 was the standard issue for all of the Marines and Spartans, with an M6A as the pistol. They all shot rocks that were shaved like bullets, the weapons adapted for them. The Marines went in first, they were the Ambushers.

Macy stepped towards the beginning of the course, the wall around the course was made of logs, with a cut in it for the door. The course itself was a dense forest with tree houses and trenches dug.

"So, our mission is to get to the other side. If all six of us get there, the Marines owe us. Big time. If five, well, they still owe us, but not nearly as much. If none of us get there, then we owe them, badly." She pulled the bolt back on her MA2.

Stone primed his own MA2. "Ashley, go with Macy. Cory, go with the first Lieutenant, I'll go with the second." The Lieutenants nodded, getting their weapons ready. Macy nodded, and began to walk towards the opening. She shouldered her weapon, looking down the sights. Ashley was only a second behind her, and the two ran into the forest, disappearing in the darkness in moments.

The First Lieutenant shouldered his weapon, "Just call me bear, sir." He said, stepping forward. Cory nodded, moving after him. Stone was a few seconds behind, waving his Lt. forward, who replied that he was Falcon.

Cory stepped into the forest, his HUD already shifting to night vision. "Bear, stay close." Bear nodded, moving towards the lower ranked soldier, who was also the superior in many ways. Cory saw movement up ahead, and dropped into a crouch. "They don't have night vision, so they are relying on noise. So move slow and quiet." He paused. "Sir."

Almost fifty yards directly ahead, Ashley and Macy crouch walked down the path, both ready to fire. Macy stopped, noticing something above. Human eyes were especially sensitive at night, more so if they were looking for something. "Ash, we got possible bogies up ahead." Ash nodded, her HUD on night vision and then zoomed in 4x.

To the east, where Stone and Falcon were, a dozen Marines stood primed in Tree Houses and trenches, ready to fire at anything moving towards them. They saw movement, and fired.

Stone saw something flash, what looked to be a scope reflecting the light that was almost thirty yards behind him. "Falcon, down!" he yelled, diving to the ground. He grabbed the pants leg of the lieutenant, but it was too late. A hundred small rocks fired at the man, hitting him all along his chest and stomach. As he was falling, they shot at the same height, and hit him in the neck, and finally in the face. He crumpled to the ground, crying in pain.

Cory saw the small muzzle flashes, barely seeable in the darkness, and the loss of gunpowder and actual bullets making almost none. He put his rifle where he estimated them to be, and emptied an entire clip, which were 55 rounds. Bear's MA2 was firing at the same thing, but on burst. The group of Marines was down, only one man down on the Spartan/XO side.

Ahead, the XO and Ashley now lay prone, ready to fire at anything, their eyes peeled. Ashley saw something, and then smiled. "Dang ma'am. I forgot about something. My team never uses it, but we do have Heat Sensors on these things. Not very reliable, but they work."

"So use 'em, Spartan!" Macy said, now starting to smile. The Spartan nodded, and switched to her other vision. She looked around slowly.

"We have three Marines in a tree house right above us. And another six ahead in a tree house. I've seen some heat in what looks like a trench right over there…" she pointed, and the XO nodded, taking all of this in. The next ten seconds were spent getting their rock grenades ready, shells that would exploded, sending small rocks outwards. They would do the job. "Go."

Four grenades were thrown, and all of the targets were taken out.

Field Marshall Nosalee Qualomee stared blankly at the display in the bridge. Around him, elites and Jackals did various tasks, readying for the battle ahead. They could just Glass the area where the Humans were, but there was a chance that what they were looking for was where the Humans were.

"It's down there somewhere."

He currently had six groups of three Banshees searching the surface of the planet. Once they find the thing, they could just glass everything else. He hoped they would soon do so.

"Sir, our Search and Destroy teams are ready, sir." An Elite major said, sliding his hand back and forth on the butt of his plasma pistol.

"Good, gear them up and tell them to get ready. They leave in thirty units." He nodded as the Elite Major turned to alert the two teams of twenty Covenant soldiers of their new mission. The Major wore a dark red suit, Qualomee wore a bright gold. Ten minutes later the Major was in the armory, watching as thirty elites, ten hunters, ten jackals, and ten grunts suited up for battle. The Major would be leading this one.

"Double time to the drop ships, we want to sneak up on 'em!" The Major laughed, turning to run to the hangar. It took him less than a minute for him to get there, he saw the Elite pilots stepping into the cockpits, readying them. They had six drop ships ready to go. The troops began to appear in the Hangar, all ready for combat. The Hunters all barely fitted into a single Drop ship. The Elites fit in two and a half, and the grunts and jackals took the rest.

The Drop Ships would be at the encampment in under an hour. The Covenant soldiers were aching to fight, now more than ever.

Bear turned; firing his MA2 at the spot he thought where he saw the weapons fire from. Cory was about ten yards to his right, trying to flank the Marines. Bear had them occupied. Ashley and Macy were close to them, the Spartans were trying to reunite and take out the Marines together. Stone had brought Falcon into the open, and left him there. He posted a white flag next to him, telling no one to shoot him. Suddenly, a honk was heard, like from a Warthog.

Macy's comm. was buzzing; same with anyone else that had one.

"This is Sergeant Machale! My men and I have got readings that the Covenant have sent around six drop ships down to the surface, we see major heat readings! I advise to intercept!" the static overturned him, and the men and women of Thomason felt strangely scared.

"Machale?" Stone asked as Macy waved off the training session, also telling people to gather the 'Dead'.

"Leader of the tech group on the _Jefferson_." Macy replied, now leaving the forest. She looked at the clear blue sky, trying to see if any Covenant could be seen. "Damnit." She looked as the Marines began to flow out. "If we are going to do anything to them, we cant fight like this. We hardly have any ammo…"

"How much?" Ashley-143 asked.

"MA3's for about 2/3 the Marines, four clips for each, I reckon." She paused, thinking. "A dozen Rocket Launchers, four dozen Sniper Rifles…" she thought some more. "We also have all of the vehicles people could man. We should do alright, but we might have to steal some of the Covenant weapons…"

"That's fine." Stone replied, calculating some things. "Need any help with the planning?" he asked. She nodded gravely.

It took them about ten minutes to walk to the camp, everyone with them. "So do we have any air support?" Cory-020 asked.

"We have four Pelicans up top, hidden inside a forest. We can clear the top out real quick if needed." Macy replied, walking to the Armory. "We also have that banshee you gave us," she added, smiling at Stone. He nodded.

The three Spartans split from the group at that point, moving to their 'Area', where they had all the salvaged equipment from the Longsword, which was pretty much just the crates of weapons.

"Anyone want to specialize in anything?" Stone asked.

Cory moved to the rifles, and grabbed an MA5B, shouldering it. He grabbed two M7 SMGs, two M6D pistols, and then grabbed a backpack full of ammo.

Ashley on the other hand, grabbed a Sniper Rifle and a Shotgun. She slipped the Sniper Rifle onto her back, and then held her Shotgun. She loaded them both, and then grabbed two M6D pistols, holstering them. She also took a pack full of ammo.

Stone took a Rocket Launcher and an MA5B, along with two M7s and an M6D. The crew moved out, all ready for war.

An hour after knowing that the Covenant would attack, they actually did. The battle started with Macy sending the Warthogs forward, depositing the passengers there and then leaving the gunners to try to shoot the Drop ships.

One Drop ship was taken out, crashing and killing the grunts and Jackals inside. The other five however, dropped the soldiers off, giving air support, destroying a Warthog and killing five Marines.

Macy sat atop a low rise, a Sniper Rifle in hand, commanding a squad of ten Marines all with Sniper Rifles and ready to fire. "Start firing…" she said, splattering the skull of an Elite Ultra. The Snipers opened fire, each scoring a head shot. Rockets flied towards the sky, taking down yet another Drop ship.

"Need any support?" Stone asked over the comm., itching to fight. When the Intel team confirmed that it was only six drop ships going in, Macy had ordered only the Warthogs and Snipers. If more support was going in, the Spartans and Marines would also.

"No sir." Macy replied, scoring another headshot.

Sergeant Erick Machale looked worriedly at his second in command, a Sergeant George Timothy. The rest of the Intel team was on the bridge, watching the radars and trying to give good intel to Macy and her city. Machale and Timothy, on the other hand, were at the loading ramp on the back of the ship, it was down, half covered with dirt and rocks. They were both posted in Warthogs, on the turrets.

"Sir, we're picking up…Seraph fighters…a dozen are going to the town, three are coming here…" Kelly said over the comm., he repeated it to Macy.

"ETA?" Machale asked nervously.

Kelly checked something on his display. "Two minutes, they're coming in fast…"

"Damnit…" Machale whispered, relaying the information to Timothy, who nodded grimly.

Seconds later they heard the things, the Seraphs dropped down, firing a few shots against the downed _Jefferson_'s hull. Two landed, and four Elites crept toward the _Jefferson_. The third Seraph peeled upwards, and patrolled around the area. Machale swallowed his nerves, trying to calm himself. An elite poked it's head around the corner, only to get shot by the jumpy Timothy. Blood, skull fragments and brains flew everywhere, and the remaining three elites roared in defiance.

An Elite rolled into view, and ran to cover behind a large crate. A second Elite ran to the left, towards Timothy. George fired at him, but his bullets seemed to fly to slow for his liking, and he cursed loudly. Machale fired at the third Elite, running to join the one behind the crate. The Second Elite took cover on the front bumper of Timothy's Warthog, and began to blind fire, no doubt hitting Timothy, who roared in pain and fell off of the turret. Machale turned, firing and killing that Elite. Seconds later he heard what sounded like laughter, and turned to see the butt of a Plasma Rifle.

Less then a minute later, Machale looked up to see that he was twenty feet away from his Warthog. The Elite was trying to look for Machale, who was crawling to cover underneath a destroyed Warthog.

"Team, this is Machale, the Covenant got Timothy, and I'm in hiding. Get ready for combat…" an Elite passed by, ten feet from his position. He held his breath, and stayed as still as he could.

All but three Hunters were dead, with only one Warthog destroyed, but six Marines dead. The Hunters hid behind their large shields, protecting their entire body. Macy called off the firing, and moments later her plan happened. The Hunters looked out from behind their shields, and fire opened again, killing two of them. The third was taken moments later, when a daring Warthog circled around and took it out.

The Marines cheered, happy they held back a Covenant assault of this size.

"How'd you do?" Stone-002 asked Macy on the comm.

"Good, we only lost six and only a Warthog…" she sounded sad. "Still to many casualties." This was broadcast to every comm. In the area, accidentally.

"You are going to get more, Ma'am…" Kelly said over the comm., she was back on the _Jefferson_, "The Covenant found us, they got Timothy, and possibly Machale. The rest of us, us Six, are holed up in the bridge, we have two posted on the door, but we will probably get breached ma'am." She paused. "The Seraphs are being called back, six are going to orbit, but the other six are coming towards…us…" gunfire was heard, and Macy heard intently as screaming, firing, and Covenant roaring was heard. Three minutes later, a new voice was on the comm.

"Is any UNSC forces out there?" a voice asked. Macy replied quickly. "This is Specialist Vongo, ma'am. Me and Kelly are the only ones left, but she's hurt pretty bad, she probably wont make…what?" he asked someone on his side. "The covenant landed, we have fourteen Elites coming…shit! Shit! Help us!" he screamed, and the comm. Was off.

Macy immediately turned, turning on her headset. "Spartans, get all on one pelican, your going to the _Jefferson_."


	3. The Jefferson

Halo

Negotiations

Chapter Three

It took almost half an hour to get the _Jefferson_ in sight, and another fifteen minutes to get there. A few Seraphs were parked near the rear loading ramp, with another coming in for a landing.

"Uh…sir, have any suggestions?" the pilot asked. She turned to look at Stone, who was slipping on his helmet.

"Get in as close as you can, and drop us off. We can sneak around that, but I don't want you or your bird to get hit." He looked back into the cargo area, making sure that his Spartans were ready, and they were. Cory-020 was slipping on his gloves, which had just been taken off to put together his weapon.

"Well, uh… is here good?" she asked. Despite being a certified pilot for thirty four years, she was sure shaken up. It might have been her age; possibly she was in her mid-life crisis.

Stone sighed. "Yeah, sure." He turned to his Spartan IIs, who stood up and nodded. "We're jumping right now. Get ready to take out that Seraph."

Cory stepped around him and moved to the pilot, he told her something, and she turned to Pelican around, now the cargo bay was open to the Seraph, which had just turned to find him. Both Cory and Ashley dropped to a knee, Rocket Launchers mounted. Ashley's Rocket found it's mark, slamming the Seraph in the nose. The shields were destroyed, and the front end crumpled. Cory's went in right after, finishing the job. The Seraph first imploded, and as soon as the explosion hit the engine, it exploded.

Stone nodded, smiling inside his helmet. The pilot laughed, and moved in closer, now much braver. They landed only yards away from the ramp, and the three Spartans stormed out. The first thing they saw was the remains of an Elite, brains and blood were everywhere. Up the ramp, a Warthog sat, an Elite dead in front of it. They ran past the Warthog, and paused. A dead Marine lay on the ground, plasma burns all over his torso. Cory bent down to grab his dog tags.

"Hey!" someone said.

All three looked to see where the sound had come from. A man lay under a Warthog, now crawling out. Identification software on the helmets of the Spartans ID'd him as a Sergeant Erick Machale, the leader of the Intel team here.

"Jeez, I didn't think anyone would come…" he said, wiping his hands on his pants. He looked around, and found the dead Elite's Plasma Rifle, and hefted it in his hands.

"Come on." Stone said, turning to lead the way. The large room they were in led to an elevator and from there a hallway that led to another Cargo area. From there they went to a Cryo-stasis room, which led them to the Cafeteria, and then to the bridge, where the heard the triumphant howl of an Elite. "Wait here." He said to the Sergeant, who shook his head no. "Ash, get at point."

The female Spartan nodded, and shouldered her M90 Combat Shotgun. She stepped around a corner, and saw the back of a Covenant Elite. Two more stood ahead of him, and the opening of the Bridge was open, and three Elites searched it. "Sir?" she asked.

Stone waved Cory forward, and he had his MA5B at the ready. The two Spartans crouched next to each other, contemplating the best way to do this. They eventually came to the conclusion that a Grenade would be the best thing to do. There could possibly be an EMP side effect, but Stone doubted it.

A Grenade flew through the air, and detonated before any of the nearby three could give alarm. The three were dead, blood and bone flew everywhere. The three Elites in the bridge turned to look at the Spartans, who were charging them, weapons blazing. They got a single shot off before all were down, and that plasma bolt glanced off Cory's shield effortlessly.

"Their might be more, Cory, cover our backs." Stone ordered, moving into the bridge. Ashley and the Sergeant were already ahead, looking around the desks. Stone paused, just outside the bridge; a dead Marine was there, blood leaking down the floor. Inside, Ashley saw two Naval personnel dead on the ground, plasma burning their skin. The Sergeant had found a woman cut in half, presumably from a Plasma Sword.

"Damnit!" Machale cursed, looking for someone he couldn't find. A bullet flew through the air, hitting the bulkhead just a foot from Machale. "What the hell?" he yelled, dropping into a crouch. Ashley was a blur as she stepped forward, moving into the corner the shot had come from. Her shotgun shouldered, she started the two people sitting there. One was surely dead; the other was only slightly injured. The man had an M6B pistol, really old. "Vongo?!" Machale asked, stepping over to the corner. He looked to the left of the man, and saw a woman who had Plasma burns up and down her body. "Kelly…" he said, now sad.

"Sir, I thought you were dead…" Vongo, a Navy man said. "When the Covenant got through, we tried to hold them off, but Kelly and I sealed the door, but right before it shut they lit her up…I only got hit in the arm…it might be infected…" he glanced down at his bloody arm, and grimaced.

Stone approached slowly. "Good job soldier." He glanced around the bridge quickly. "More Covenant might be coming, we should get out of here." He said, and everyone nodded. Vongo and Machale went around taking the dog tags of the dead soldiers, and then followed the Spartans out. Cory reported no movement. They went through the path to the rear loading ramp, and stopped cold.

Two Hunters, a dozen Black Ops Elites, ten bug like things, and two dozen Jackals stood in lines blocking the ramp. At sight, the Jackal's yellow shields flared, blocking their body from harm. The Hunters dropped into their fighting position, sliding their arm-mounted Fuel Rod Cannons into the slot on their gigantic shields. The Elites all had their Energy Swords flaring, a few snarled. The Bug's wings flittered, ready for battle.

"Shit." Ashley said, taking a step back.

"Stop." Stone said, looking into the eyes of what could be the leader of the Covenant force. "This is a challenge. If we move at all, they open fire. As long as we stay here…" he looked at 2x magnification, looking into the Elite's eyes. "We won't be attacked."

Ashley nodded slowly, cursing in her mind. Cory's hand slid along his weapon, knowing they were probably screwed. The Marines looked at each other nervously.

"When I say so, Marines, run to that Scorpion in maintenance to the right. Cory, run at their level, block them from fire, if you can." Stone paused. "Ash, we're running to the Shortsword to the left." She nodded.

The Covenant soldiers began to twitch, ready for a fight.

"Go."

Machale and Vongo, with a burst of nervous speed, rushed the Scorpion, able to get halfway before the Covenant had even recognized the movement. Cory followed, catching up in six strides. The other two Spartans bolted to their left, getting to the Shortsword before the Covenant got a shot off at them. The Marines got to the Scorpion without harm, as did all of the Spartans.

"Ash, start sniping' away." Stone said, and Ash limbered over, and glanced around the cockpit, almost getting hit with Plasma. She stood back, thought for a moment, and began to climb atop the Shortsword. No one saw her. She looked through her scope, and saw the head of a higher ranking Elite. She fired, and blew the brains clean out of it's head. She brought the magnification to 2x, and saw that something was wrong.

"Sir, where are the bugs?" she asked.

Stone uttered a single word before Ash yelled in surprise; three of the Bugs grabbed her on the arms and threw her against the nearby wall. She hit it, hard, and fell to the ground, dazed. Stone opened fire, taking down all three. They were easy to kill, but moved fast.

Across the loading bay, Spartan 020 was taking down another few bugs, the Marines hardly helping. The Elites rushed them, Plasma glancing off the walls and vehicles. Spartan 143, Ashley, had by now recovered, and took a position on their side of the Cockpit of the Shortsword, and as soon as she was sure an Elite was close enough, she stuck her head out, firing her Shotgun. Brains and bone fragments flew everywhere, scattering around the area.

020 threw a grenade, taking three Elites with it. The Jackals were creeping forward, Plasma pistols flaring. The Hunters limbered towards them, Fuel Rod Cannons charging. One unloaded, blowing a large section from the Scorpion.

"Shit sir!" Cory yelled on the comm., firing his Assault Rifle. Stone fired his own, taking out an Elite. "I didn't think we would have this much of a challenge!" Cory laughed, stepping from cover. Stone looked over, now angry.

Cory had no weapon in hand, and grabbed a nearby Elite. He twisted it's neck, letting it drop to the floor, dead. He punched another in it's exposed stomach, it fell back in surprise. Cory withdrew one M6D and fired at point blank range, taking the Elite out. He fired out the rest of the clip, taking out another Elite. He dropped the weapon to the floor, and took out his duel SMGs. He unloaded both magazines, killing two Elites. The Marines fired their pistol and Plasma Rifle, taking out another Elite.

Stone kept firing with his AR, reducing the shield of an Elite to nothing. Ash stepped from cover, charging the unshielded one. It brought out it's Plasma Sword, and swung, making a large cut across her chest plate. Her shields screamed and flared, dropping to nothing. She fired her shotgun, hitting the Elite's exposed side. It roared in pain, and swung again. She was able to dodge the much slower hit, and fired yet again. The resulting blast destroyed everything from the abdomen and above of the Elite.

Stone ran up, firing his SMGs, his AR out of ammunition. He killed an Elite, and jumped over the dead body. Ash turned to follow her superior, and the Spartans were all reunited yet again. "Status?" Stone asked, reloading his AR.

"Everyone is fine, I count none of the bugs, only six Elites, and a few Jackals and grunts, sir." Cory said, looking at the Covenant soldiers moving to cover.

That was when a UNSC Pelican Dropship dropped from the air, hovering over the ground. The chin gun mounted on the front swiveled to bear, and began to fire. All of the Covenant, so bent on the Spartans and Marines, were ripped to shreds. The Spartans stood in awe as the last of the Covenant fell, and the Pelican slid to the ground. The pilot gave them a thumbs up, and the Spartans ran. Stone led the run back to the Pelican, smiling.

"Thanks, Ma'am!" he said, sitting on the bench inside the cargo bay. Both of the Marines sat together on one side, the Spartans on the other.

By the time they got back to Thomason, both Marines were sleeping, Ash with them. Cory defended off his sleeping urges to no avail, and upon landing, collapsed on the ground. It would take eight Marines to carry him to his bed. Stone would be awake for another hour, wondering what the hell those bugs were.

They weren't really a challenge, no. It was just that, they were new forces. Could their possibly be anything worse out there? Something as strong as him? The Elites could be a match, but the thought of something more powerful than them worried him. He decided to sleep on it.


	4. Author's Note 1

Author's Note to readers

I didn't mean to already make one of these, but, well, it sucks. Lately, I haven't had much time to get on the computer, mainly because my home computer is broken, for good, and that I can only get on my mom's laptop, which is rarely.

SO I really don't know when I can update next, I know what I want, and it will probably only take me a bit to write, but yeah, I hope you guys can be patient enough to stand my stupid schedule. :P


	5. Special Operations

Halo

Negotiations

Chapter Four

Spartan 143 woke up to the smell of some kind of cooked meat. She stood, and moved out of her building, walking outside. She saw a dozen people cooking meat on makeshift grills, their smell waving through the air. She moved to the grill, and saw that Macy was controlling one.

"Ma'am, why are we making such a…"

"A target?" she smiled back, and flipped over what could pass as bacon. "So, what are you doing up early? You did a helluva job soldier, you need some rest." She made a small face, baiting Ashley in.

Ash countered quickly, "Well ma'am, we Spartans are trained to wake up at 0500 every morning, and it is 0634, an hour and a half late." She looked around the encampment, wondering exactly how long these guys would last against a frontal Covenant assault. That was it, they couldn't.

"Ma'am I was thinking, and-," but she was stopped mid-sentence.

"Yes, Ashley. I know. We need to take the fight to them. But hell, we really can't do much…" She looked at her own camp. "But we really need to. I was actually counting on using you and your team to help me come up with a plan."

"Yes Ma'am. I'll tell them when they wake up-," and at that, the other two Spartans stepped out behind her, ready for the day ahead of them. Ashley turned, forgetting the normal Spartan finger-faceplate gesture, and hugging them both. "Great job on the mission yesterday, boys," Ashley said, stepping back.

Macy smiled, flipping over a piece of bacon. "So," she said. "Ready for some food?" The Spartans nodded, smiling.

"Stupid Heretic monkeys!" Field Marshall Nosalee Qualomee roared. He had just lost a good group of soldiers. He cursed loudly, smacking a nearby Jackal to the ground. "Jorru!" He yelled, meaning his new hunter bodyguards. Both of the gigantic creatures lumbered towards him. "Stay here." He said, pointing at the ground for emphasis. He stepped through the main doorway, moving towards the barracks. Upon stepping inside, the four Elites inside stopped, saluting. A few split their mandibles to show their respect.

"Sir," one said. Damamee Shatomee, a SpecOps team commander.

Qualomee nodded, quickly stepping past them both. "I have a mission four your team, Shatomee." He stopped, grabbing a plasma pistol that lay on the ground. He held it in his hand, and fired it at the bulkhead below. The four elites nodded, "This mission will be under the radar. No one, besides your team, myself, a select others." He dropped the pistol back onto the desk, turning to the four. All stood almost perfectly still. "You will be dropping onto the top of the cliff, overlooking the human camp. You will engage in active camouflage, and move into the camp. You will kill the three demons, and move to the extraction point atop the cliff."

The four nodded quickly, Shatomee momentarily reaching for his private communications device. "Permission, sir?" he asked. Qualomee nodded, stepping over to Shatomee.

"Do well on this mission, and you will be accepted into the great journey without question."'

Shatomee split its mandibles into a grin, keying for his team to move into his room. The group of ten was gathered in moments, while Shatomee briefed them all on their coming mission.

Sergeant First Class Davis Burke looked up, something glistened off in the distance. At the age of 42, he was a bit to old for his line of work, being part of a select squad made to protect and watch the top of the cliff overlooking the encampment. His squad, comprising of seven men, had only two still conscious. Four were sleeping, and Burke was on the way to joining them. They had the night watch, and also watched until midday, two hours away.

He shut his eyes, but then Corporal Brown said something, "Sir, I think I saw something." That stopped Burke from falling asleep, and woke up the light sleeper Specialist Durango.

"Sir?" Durango asked. Burke waved him off, bringing his binoculars up to his eyes. He looked into the sky. He saw something glimmer in the sunlight, but then nothing. He looked through the sky again, but saw nothing. He brought the binoculars down to his chest, squinting into the sky.

"Go back to sleep, soldier." Durango was only eighteen, been legal for three days, and immediately joined the UNSC. The kid fell backwards onto the ground, and was snoring in seconds.

Burke stood up, stretching. He did for a moment to long, and got a blood rush to his head, giving him a headache. He groaned, stumbling towards the docked Pelicans. He stood in the shade of one for a moment, looking back over to the two tents thirty feet away. Something swept across the ground, a shadow.

"What?" Burke said, stepping towards the tent. He saw Brown look into the sky, his eyes opening in shock and horror.

Plasma shots erupted from the sky, cutting Brown into bloody chunks. More shots dotted the ground, killing Perez, Dale, and Chavez. Durango jumped up, running towards Burke. Plasma followed his path, missing him by centimeters.

Suddenly a shape shimmered on the ground, Burke saw what looked like an old Covenant Dropship. The sides opened up, five Black Armored elites stepping out. All had Plasma Energy Swords, ready to strike.

"Ah Shit." Burke said, his last sight being the end of a Plasma Sword. Durango dove at the ground, crawling to safety under a Pelican.

He fumbled for his headset, "Ma'am I-," but then he finally figured it out, his Headset was missing. "SHIT!" he screamed, finally seeing a Covenant Sword stabbing his chest. He groaned in pain, trying to grasp the sword. The attempt shredded his palms, causing even more pain. Blood began to drain into the ground, his final attempts to live were in vain.

Spartan-020, Cory stepped out of his room, looking down the hallway. He saw two older Marines walking together, talking about the recent victories. Cory decided to follow them out of the building, emerging into the midday sun outside. He walked around the building, making sure everything was in order. He saw Spartan 002 talking to a group of civilians, and decided to walk over to see what they were talking about. Just as he got there though, he saw something glisten in the sunlight, far above. The shimmer seemed to be like metal reflecting the sun on a sunny say, yet he saw nothing.

A scream rang out, followed by what could have possibly been Plasma fire. Cory, his fine tuned, genetically enhanced ears could hear this, and he knew that Stone had heard it also. Cory stopped, looking at the overlooking cliff, a hundred yards above. Stone pardoned the men, and stepped over to the other Spartan. Cory, expecting no combat at all today, was wearing just a gray t shirt, and black shorts. Stone wore his Mjolnir plated legs, but his upper body pieces were missing. "Go get your armor; I will go check it out." Cory looked at him, and then nodded. He turned around, and ran back into his room. It would take him two minutes to gear up.

Stone jogged up a hidden path, snaking up the cliff. Upon getting to the top, he paused, hiding behind a large rock. He looked around the rock, seeing three Black-Armored Elites moving dead Marines' bodies around. Stone cursed, knowing immediately that they were Special Operations Elites, the best of the best in the Covenant armada. "Shit." He murmured, but then he saw a dead Marines MA3 lying on the ground.

His window of opportunity was sitting a dozen feet away, but a Covenant SpecOps Elite was less than five feet away.

He counted to five, and jumped forward.


	6. Defense

Halo

Negotiations

Chapter Five

Spartan 002-Stone, saw the dead Marines' bodies, and one of their MA3s lying on the ground, dried blood stained onto it. Beside the Marines, was a Covenant Elite, one of the bad ass black Armored Special Operations ones. Stone tried to look around the camp site one more time, seeing no more enemies. He counted to five, and then jumped forward.

His stealth skills kept the Elite from noticing him, and he thanked his trainers for helping him develop this. He swept the MA3 in one smooth motion, planting it into the imaginary divot in his shoulder. Accidentally, his foot clipped a rock, and the metal on rock clinged, alerting the Elite.

The Covenant soldier turned, bringing up its plasma pistol in one motion. Stone held down the trigger, seeing that it was on burst. The bullets ripped forward, clipping the Elite in the neck and side of the head. It fell to the ground, blood and gore splattering into the air.

Stone turned, running to the edge of the cliff. He looked down it, seeing what none of the others could see.

Spartan 020-Cory heard the gunfire above just as he grabbed his own weapon. He was fully geared up, unlike his counterpart, and superior, Stone. Cory ran out of his room, telling anyone and everyone he could about the possible danger from above.

But just as he stepped outside, it was too late.

Sergeant Major Orville Morgan heard the gunfire above, the single burst of gunfire, followed by the sound of a gasping Elite.

He was currently walking to the bathroom, one Marine soldier next to him. The marine, a Sergeant Thomas Steele, looked up at the cliff in wonder. "What the hell was that?" He asked. Sgt. Major Morgan looked at the cliff, his face a mask of confusion. Both of their weapons were only their side arms; the M6D pistols.

"With me," Morgan said flatly, running towards one of the paths up the cliff. He saw the opening of the path, but something shimmered in the light. As he stopped to look closer, he saw a flash of light. It was a light blue color, something sticking from the mirage. "What the-," Morgan asked, but before he could finish the saying with the big old F-Bomb, Steele was cut in half, blood pooling onto the ground.

"Damnit!" Morgan screamed, firing at the mirage. It went wide, hitting the cliff side a few meters away. The shimmer lunged, stabbing him in the stomach with it's sword. "Damn…" Morgan repeated, starting to feel a glimmer of pain. Something else tickled, on his neck. The world spun around him, and he felt the ground hit his head. He tried to move, but couldn't. Just before he was fully dead, he figured out that he had been decapitated by a second mirage.

The squad of SpecOps Covenant Elites spread across the camp, their active camouflage devices hiding them from the sights of the pathetic humans. Ten men and women were dead before the first reaction force was thought of, and another six were killed before the force actually reacted.

"Damnit! Get to the damn cliff!" Macy yelled, grabbing her Assault Rifle. She ran from her bunker, turning to her left to see a shimmer in the air cut down a Marine. "What the-?" She asked, but then the shimmer turned to look at her. She shouldered her weapon, and fired a burst at the thing. At first, nothing seemed to happen, but then, an Elite seemed to appear out of nowhere, dropping to the ground, dead.

"Nice job baby!" Some Marine yelled, running by her.

"Call me Ma'am, muthafucka!" She replied, running after him.

Stone ran down the Cliffside, his MA3 now reloaded. He stood on the path, a dozen yards from the ground. He decided to shave a few seconds off of the time, and jumped. He landed with a sharp pain in his left foot, but decided to ignore it, he ran forward, seeing three dead Marines on the ground. He stepped over the corpse of a former woman sniper, and turned a corner.

An Elite towered over the corpse of a fallen Marine, smiling its devilish Alien smile. "Hey, Bitch!" Stone yelled. The Elite turned in time to see a trio of bullets slam into it's visor, killing it instantly.

Stone ran forward, seeing Spartan 143-Ashley fighting an Elite in hand to hand combat. The Elite had its energy sword lying on the ground, Ash had a knife in her hand, but the strength of the Elite kept it off. "BASTARD!" Ash yelled, using all of her strength now. The Elite struggled, but then its knees buckled, and it fell backwards. Ash pounced on it, stabbing it in the neck. It gurgled blood, and died.

Just as Stone stepped up beside her, another shimmer in the light appeared, duel Energy Swords in hand. "Shi-!" Stone started, as the Elite raised its arms. A bullet slammed through its head, blood funneling out in a cone shape towards the two Spartans. They stood in a stunned silence, looking past the falling corpse to see Spartan 020- Cory standing atop a small hut, a Sniper Rifle in hand. A line of ozone led back to him, and he smiled inside his helmet.

"Well then, looks like we're even," Cory said in satisfaction.


	7. The Tragedies of War

Halo

Negotiations

Chapter Six

"Well then, looks like we're even," Cory said in satisfaction.

Stone smiled, and thanked him. He looked a bit out of place, the two Spartans wore their full Spartan Mjolnir armor, while Stone was missing his upper body armor. "Yeah…" Stone replied, stepping forward. He saw another shimmer appear in his peripheral vision, a Marine's body flying across the ground.

Stone raised the weapon, and fired at the thing. It roared in pain, and blood began to spill from what looked like nothing. It then fell to the ground, dead. Stone stepped over to it, kicking it for good measure.

Stone looked back at his soldiers, Spartans 002, and 143. "Ash, go and find Macy. Cory, go look for more civilians, get them all to one place. Try organizing something," Stone said. "I'm going to get the rest of my armor."

With that, he turned, and ran from the corpses, jogging into his quarters, slipping on the first part of his armor in seconds.

143 found Macy a few minutes later, and helped the officer get together a group of Marines, get the civilians out of there, and start a HKT, or Hunter Killer Team. The team consisted of Spartan 143, Macy, and four Marines. A second team was formed, followed by a third.

Ash led the team, stepping around a small hut, turning to look point blank into the face of an enraged Elite. She cursed, rolling backwards as the monster's energy sword cut the air in front of her. She came to her feet just as five Marines' weapons snapped on, killing the Elite in seconds.

"Damn," Ash whispered. She stepped over the corpse, mentally kicking herself for walking into that so immaturely.

Macy stepped up to her, sensing Ash's attitude. "It's all right, we all make mistakes," Lindsay said, shouldering her weapon. "Howe! At point!" she yelled, and one of the Marines jogged forward to lead the team.

Macy grabbed her headset, pressing a button. "Pierce, how is your team doing?" she asked.

Seconds later, a voice like cold ice replied quickly, but confidently. "My Sniping team is set up, we are in position. Have sights on two hostiles," Command Sergeant Major John Pierce replied coolly.

In the background of the communication, someone yelled that they had a target. Seconds later the loud crack of a Sniper Rifle was heard, and nothing else. By now, most Civilians had been evacuated towards the caves, and most of the still alive Marines had gone with them, to protect them.

Across the camp, Cory was sitting atop a branch on an old, large tree towards the back of the camp. He had a BR55 Battle Rifle, and he sighted down the 2x Scope, looking around the camp. He saw an Elite towering over a woman, who cried as she saw the Elite raise its Energy Sword. Cory fired at the monster, the three round burst hitting it in the face. It's shield, and then the active camo generator failed, and it shuddered backwards, possibly confused. Cory fired another burst, and finished it off.

The woman looked towards his direction, but she couldn't see Cory, for he was hidden in the leaves, along with the camo generators on his armor.

Spartan Gray team sported Mjolnir IV armor, like most Spartans, but they had SPI plates installed on the normal Mjolnir plates, generating camouflage. They were also the only Spartan IIs, besides Kurt, that knew about the Spartan III project.

Cory looked through the Scope, searching the camp. He saw a few Marines running somewhere, then, about a dozen yards ahead, was Ash, her assault Rifle pointed outwards. Cory smiled, looking around her, making sure nothing was near.

"Twenty to two, you there big guy?" Cory asked. He was on a private comm. Channel, and the signal was only to his command Spartan.

A few seconds after the sending, he replied back, "Yea. All geared up now… on my way out…"

Cory looked back to the main building, where Stone would be leaving in a few seconds. He looked at the front door, saw the reflection of the Mjolnir Armor on the glass, and Cory sighed. Another major player would be able to defend the place.

Stone reached for the door handle, and pushed-

-And the building exploded. The surrounding buildings were either flattened, or burned. Large pieces of debris flew outwards, leveling even more buildings. Cory saw two Marines get cut in half be large sheets of metal, blood flying everywhere. Cory also saw something large go flying outwards, ending its journey in the cliff side, it fell back, and landed in a heap. Cory looked down the scope of his rifle, and looked to see Spartan 002-Stone, lying on the ground fifty yards from the explosion, a pool of blood forming around him.

Cory jumped from his branch, and ran towards the body of his dying friend. A few people were startled to see him appear from virtually no where, but he didn't care. He ran towards the man on the ground, picking up speed to close to fifteen miles an hour. He came to a stop right before him, and dropped to a knee. He bent over the man's body, and began to look for a wound, but as soon as he flipped Stone over, he saw it. It was hard not to see it.

The entire back part of his armor was gone, the skin underneath burned to show parts of muscle. Blood was flowing out freely, making a puddle around him. Out of the corner of his eye, Cory saw something shimmer in the light. In one smooth motion, he grabbed his combat knife on his side, and threw it to his left, hitting the Camouflaged Elite right in the front eye. It spit blood, falling back. Dead.

Moments later Ash showed up, she ripped off her helmet, letting it drop to the ground. Tears flowed down her cheeks as she looked at the wounds of Stone. Cory took off his own helmet, and then looked around for a medic. "MEDIC!" he screamed, his voice unsteady. "WE NEED A FUCKING MEDIC!" he screamed, looking around wildly. Macy showed up a minute later, two Marines in tow.

One of which was a Medic, but as soon as the man got on his knee, he knew that this man's injuries were way beyond him. But he tried anyway. He grabbed biofoam, and began to plug up any cuts. "Get some water!" he pointed at a Marine, but Ash was faster, and stepped around the man, running as fast as she could. Marines began to show up, and Macy turned to order them about.

"Make a perimeter…" She whispered, then pointed to a few men. "Go look for survivors, and try to find a surgeon."

The Medic stood up, he did all he could do. He turned to look at Macy, and shook his head. "I cant do anymore…" He looked at the man. "He might not make it…"

Even though Cory was not truly listening, and that the Medic was whispering, he still heard those fatal words. If Cory was truly listening, he could hear a pin drop in a sandstorm. Tears formed in his eyes. This couldn't happen, not here, not now.


	8. Stronghold

Halo

Negotiations

Chapter Seven

Spartan 143-Ashley watched as the four Marines carried her team leader off on a reinforced stretcher. It was an hour since the last Covenant Elite was seen, just a short minute after Spartan 002-Stone was injured in a building explosion.

Ash followed the Marines for a short while, before her emotions began to overcome her Military discipline. Spartan Gray Team, which consisted of herself, and two other Spartans, was the most "Human" of any Spartans. They displayed their emotions in more than the simple finger-faceplate gesture that the other Spartans, even Master Chief-117, did.

Behind her, Major Lindsay Macy watched in slight pleasure as the four Marines struggled to carry the single man. But then she looked at the ghostly white face of the man that lay atop the stretcher. She looked around the encampment, now missing seven or eight buildings. The injured were now being taken to a building, a second hospital. The first had been leveled by the primary explosion.

The death count, hauntingly enough, had twenty four civilians' dead, along with another twelve Marines. A squad of Soldiers stepped forward, saluting to the XO.

"Yes?" She asked, turning to face them. She looked at the leader in the eyes. His cool blue circles stared back at her. He was Command Sergeant Major John Pierce, leader of the entire Sniper section at the encampment.

"Ma'am. From what we found above, a drop ship dropped them off, and then went on home, in orbit. A few of my men and I suspect a second attack to happen, and soon," Pierce informed, folding his arms behind his back, one hand in the steel clasp of the other.

She cleared her throat, "Thanks," She replied, "Can you set up around the camp, on any cliffs or hills possible? I want full fields of vision. No one can get a drop on us, understand?" She asked, picking up volume as she went on.

"Yes Ma'am!" he replied, saluting crisply. He turned, looking at the five men around him. "Eversmann, Ruiz get up on that cliff, look towards the south. Dale, Petty, Western Hills. McWilliams; with me," Pierce looked back at Macy quickly, then turned to walk towards the hills on the Eastern Side.

Macy looked back around the camp, momentarily searching for Marines gathered up. She saw thirty Marines lounging in a corner, and she strode over, her weapon slung on her shoulder, the rifle hanging loosely by her hip.

"Sergeant Miller!" she yelled, getting closer. An Irish accented man turned to look at her, his red hair cropped short. "Get a squad of men and get topside," She ordered. The man nodded, leaving with a group of eight Marines. "Sergeant Evans!" She ordered, pointing at the man who had helped get the Spartans from the crash site to the camp a few days earlier. "Get a squad and move to the west," She looked for a third team leader, and found Sergeant First Class Dawkins, and she relayed another set of orders.

She looked around the camp, thinking of the past few days. First, the Spartans had shown up…then they put up a dozen buildings, half of which were now destroyed. She had lost almost thirty men and women.

She cursed the Covenant.

"By the prophets…" Field Marshall Nosalee Qualomee whispered, looking at the display. A satellite deployed over the Human base showed that the plan had worked. The SpecOps soldiers had deployed successfully, killing many soldiers. Then they planted the bomb, right on track. Then it went to hell. The Demons had, unexpectedly, been able to trap the SpecOps soldiers, and kill them. The Covenant soldiers had, however, wounded or killed one of the Demons, bringing their count to somewhere between two and four.

Qualomee turned from sadness to anger. These pathetic humans had killed a squad of his best, only by pure numbers.

"Than pure numbers will only beat them," Qualomee yelled in anger, smashing his fist through the keyboard. A few creatures around the bridge jumped in fear, startled to hear the bang.

Qualomee looked around the bridge, finally seeing no one capable enough. He pointed to a senior officer, and stepped down a hallway. He found a large room with a dozen high ranking Covenant Elites.

"Sanghelli Elite," Qualomee said, making the already proud Elites puff up their chests. "I have a mission for you."

It took him a few minutes to brief them on their next mission, a sure victory. "You will bring close to two hundred soldiers. A squad of Banshees and two Seraphs to do bomb runs, if needed."

"Sir, why not glass them?"

"There is evidence of ancient Foerunner technologies on this planet, if we glass them, there is a possibility of destroying the technology…" Qualomee's voice trailed off, not telling them the rest of it. If they learned of the possible beings that could be hidden on the surface, their pride would burst, and their could be a civil war.

Qualomee turned to leave the barracks, leaving the Elites to plan their op.

It would be a good one, almost have to be, or else they would lose a large fraction of their force. That could not happen, if the Covenant wanted to succeed on Stronghold.

The Foerunner home planet.


	9. The Battle for Thomasson

Halo

Negotiations

Chapter Eight

Command Sergeant Major John Pierce looked across the sky for the third time in twenty minutes. A grand total of seven men were up there on the hills, including him. Two were snipers, also including him. The other five were ordinary Marines, one of which being a heavy weapons man.

Pierce looked around the outpost, designated Oscar Two. It was the second outpost of four, designated to watch for Covenant activity. Four of the soldiers were sleeping, having to do the graveyard shifts last night. One man was just in the nearby bushes, taking a leak. Another man was jogging back to the main camp, going to get a few supplies.

So, Pierce was the only guard on the Eastern post at the moment. This was the first thing wrong. The second was that the Covenant Phantoms, the new drop ships, now had active camo generators. Third, a SpecOps team was planted on the ground a mile from the Eastern post.

Pierce heard something snap in the bushes, and turned to see Sergeant Michael Jordan step out of the trees and into the small clearing. "Hey," the Sergeant said, waving. He took two steps, but then he stopped. A small sting of pain was in his chest and stomach. He looked down to see two blood soaked blades sticking out of his torso.

"John…" Mike said, before dropping to the ground, dead. Pierce looked where Mike had just been standing, seeing a shimmer in the air. The first thing Pierce did was right out of the book.

"Pierce to HQ, we got hostiles here," He grabbed his M6D, dropping into the old Weaver stance. He fired two shots at the thing, whose Camo failed and dissipated. An Elite formed out of what looked like midair, a Plasma Sword in its hand. It roared in defiance, launching forward. Pierce sidestepped, hitting it on the back of its head with his pistol. It fell to the ground in pain, and he brought the gun down to shoot it in the back of the head, once, twice, three and four times. Blood and gore flied everywhere, staining his uniform and body armor. He wiped his hands on the grass below him, and looked up to see that the four sleeping men were now wide awake.

"What the hell is going on?" one asked.

Pierce looked at him with a dumbfounded look, "You hear me shooting, you see a Marine's dead body, you see a dead Elite on the ground, and you still don't know what is going on!?" He yelled. "Are you retarded?" he was almost screaming now.

The Marine stepped back, almost a scared look on his face. But it disappeared as he heard gunfire, from one of the other outposts.

"Outpost One is lost! Repeat! Outp-," but he couldn't finish the message, for a roar was heard, and gunfire and static overwhelmed the comm.

Pierce grabbed his Sniper Rifle, and looked through the scope. He was looking at where Outpost One was supposed to be, but was now a large flame. A few silhouettes were seen in the flames, but when they stepped out, it was obvious that they were Covenant Elites.

"Shit…a frickin' invasion…" Pierce said flatly.

"What should we do, sir?" Sergeant Evans asked.

"You guys get back to base. I'll stay here and give Sniper Coverage…" He looked around the group. "McWilliams, stay here with me."

Everyone nodded, McWilliams going to grab his Sniper Rifle. As they started to move, Pierce fired a few shots at the Elites at Outpost One, scoring two headshots. He glanced down the hill following a group of Covenant soldiers with his Sniper Rifle. He fired twice, clipping two Elites in their knees. Both fell to the ground in agony, bleeding all over the green grass. Their squad mates, a group of Jackals, buzzed on their shields, looking towards Pierce's direction. The shield prevented him of a good shot, but then the Snipers at Outpost Four, across the way, fired and killed the entire group.

Pierce saw a group of Marines run from Outpost Four, running towards the encampment. Pierce saw a drop ship coming in from behind Outpost Four, but before he could get on his comm., the bottom turrets of the ship fired, burning both Snipers with hot torrents of plasma.

"Outpost Four is lost…" Pierce whispered into his headset. He looked at the camp, and pressed the button again. "Thomasson is lost…"

Major Lindsay Macy turned to see the large flame devouring Outposts One and Four. Marines were setting up on the Northside of the town, Warthogs and Scorpions set up. A few Marines looked in horror as a flood of Covenant Grunts and Jackals flooded towards them, stopping three hundred yards away. This was the calm before the storm. A few Elites were at the front, hands holding Plasma Swords.

Macy stared through her binoculars, trying to find a high ranked Elite. If she found it, she could kill it, and then the Covenant might be disarrayed, but then she saw nothing above a blue armored Elite, the normal soldier. She cursed under her breath, but then smiled. It would be a good fight.

Spartan 002-Cory sat in the cockpit of one of the two Scorpions the Marines had. Ashley-143 was sitting outside his Scorpion, twirling her combat knife swiftly in her fingers. She had a vendetta against the Covenant, and was willing to do anything at the moment to avenge Stone.

Cory was listening to the comm. Traffic, which was silent besides the occasional report from Macy.

The crack of a Sniper Rifle rang out, bursting an Elite's head into bloody chunks. A few Grunts around the headless, but erect, body looked up in shock, before it fell backwards, falling atop a Grunt.

An Elite across the line roared, and charged forward. The fight was on.


	10. The New, Stronger Covenant

Halo

Negotiations

Chapter Nine

The front line of Covenant soldiers charged, meeting gunfire from directly infront of them. A few strong Elites were able to hold their weapons straight infront of them, shooting while they ran as fast as they could, killing a few stray Marines. But then the heavy weapons opened up, including two Scorpion Main Cannons, a few Warthogs' LAAGs and a few .50s set up around the Human line.

The large rounds from the tanks exploded, killing up to five soldiers at once. The Elites dodged the mortar rounds, rushing the soldiers. One Elite got a bit close to the Marine line, a soldier stood still, stunned.

Suddenly, a Spartan jumped forward, a combat knife in her hand. She lunged forward, dodging the cut from the covenant Elite soldier, coming in on the inside only to knife the thing in the neck. She turned the blade, finishing the motion by decapitating the Elite soldier. She looked back at the Marine, and shook her head in disgust. She ran forward.

It looked like a scene from a movie. Time seemed to blur as bullets peppered the ground around her, dirt and grass spraying up in a storm. She swung her knife, cutting down another Elite. A mortar round launched past her, making a gigantic crater in the ground not ten feet from her. She stepped forward, and then dove over the crater. She tackled an Elite, driving her knife into the base of its skull. She jumped up, making a cartwheel turn into a back flip. She landed feet first on a Grunt's neck, killing it instantly. She then jumped forward, stabbing another Elite in the face. She stopped, looking around her.

Covenant soldiers ran by her, ignoring her possibly, or maybe they were scared. Ashley caught movement out of the corner of her eye, and barely was able to dodge the lunge of a Covenant Elite, its Plasma Sword blazing. She came back up, knife held in her right hand loosely. She chucked the knife forward, the blade burying itself in its face. She left the blade stuck in its face, and bent over to grab the sword. Upon squeezing it, it buzzed back on. She swung it around a few times, getting a feel for it. It truly was nice.

She stepped to her right, moving into what seemed like the never ending Covenant swarm. She swung, cutting down a half dozen Grunts. She laughed, cutting down a few more. This was more like it. After this, she would go after the Covenant leader, high above, in orbit. She swung again, cutting down a fee Jackals. She turned to her left, seeing a flash of blue. It was a Plasma Sword held by another Elite. She dodged a cut, bringing her blade up to cut the Elite's collarbone. She brought the weapon back down, cutting the monster down the middle. A smile escaped her lips as she saw the blood and gore drip to the ground.

She caught a flash of movement, and looked up in time to see a large, armored, hairy fist hit her in the face.

A hundred yards back, Cory sat in his Scorpion tank, and saw the thing smack his teammate in the face. Upon seeing her limp form launch twenty feet in the air, high above the Covenant soldiers, he jumped from the tank, pointing for a nearby Marine to take the wheel. He ran forward, his only weapon his M6D sidearm. King Kong was what the thing looked like. It was like a gigantic gorilla, but armored and with a nasty looking lower jaw.

Cory came at it from behind, and jumped on its back. He put it in a headlock, able to get a grunt out of it. The thing grabbed a plate on his back, and proceeded to fling him over its shoulder. He crashed atop a group of Grunts, who died on his impact. He flipped back into a standing position.

He aimed his weapon, and fired. The bullets hit it in the face, but it didn't even flinch.

"Spartan Twenty to Sierra One…put a fucking round in this bitch now!" he yelled, turning to run. The monster ran after him, and for the first time, Cory noticed that he was the only one out on the battlefield. Dozens of Covenant soldiers lay dead on the grass, Ash was somewhere among them. But the fight was now in between the buildings and tents of the camp, men and women screaming.

Cory stopped, and lunged backwards. His elbow was brought up, and smacked the thing in the face. But its momentum pushed Cory forwards and he fell face first onto the ground.

The monster towered above him, a nasty grin on its mouth. It was about to bend over to grab Cory when the loud crack of a tank firing was heard, and a large round blew the upper half of the thing away. Its legs stood erect for a moment, before falling to the ground.

Cory stood up, and looked around the battlefield. The tank that had fired was now backing up, firing its auto turret at a group of Jackals limbering forward. Something flashed to his right, and Cory looked to see what it was.

Four of the monsters were carrying Ashley away, to the top of the hill, where a drop ship hovered.

Cory's mind raced. He could run back, grab the tank, and shoot them. But it ran the risk of hurting Ash. He could race after them right now, but considering that he had a hard time against a single one, how could he handle four?

"Ah Fuck it," He whispered, and ran forward. He closed the distance in moments, and jumped forward. His fist made contact with the turning face of one of them just at the end of his jump. All of them fell to the ground, and in confusion, two of them shot each other, Cory thanked whatever was overlooking him at the moment. He grabbed one of their Plasma Rifles, an odd shade of red, and fired point blank into the monster's face. Plasma washed over the ugly thing as its life drained to nothing.

Cory felt something on his left, and turned to see an enraged…thing hovering above him. It was one of the monkeys, but with odd gray and white hair. He cursed, and the thing kicked him in the face, knocking him out.


End file.
